A Change In Focus
25 Oct 2015DrunkRenegade12
As far as I know, Inara doesn't allow an easy way for me to message everyone on our Wing, so this will have to do. I hope everyone takes the time to read this.EXO started out as an idea (for those who were interested) that all Commanders would have a place to call home, to play together, and to have fun. As big as the game is, a player faction would make it seem a big smaller, and bring the community together.
We knew there would be issues. We knew there would be people who actively oppose us. Personally, I'm ok with that. It adds to the "lore" we are creating for ourselves as a faction. But others are taking it too personal. Remember, people are allowed to have constructive arguments, they are allowed to rationally criticize. It is our job as EXO members to not take these criticisms to heart, and to understand that we must be constructive, polite, and rational in our responses. It would be nice to see "Man, these guys are actually cool" rather than the "Wow what a prick, to hell with EXO!" posts that have been popping up lately. BE the example, not the exception.
This player faction is new to all of us. We are all learning as we go, myself included As with all large groups, mistakes have been made, and they will continue to be made. What will decide our future is how we learn from these mistakes, and how we handle them.
Interdictions against non-wanted Commanders were thrown out the window, that was a bad idea. I apologize to anyone who took offense to this, and thank you for the feedback.
"Don't shoot wanted EXO NPCs" has been a policy since the faction became a thing. This was put in place due to the impression that our faction needed the highest influence possible in the system in order for it to expand, however we now realize that is not the case, at least at the time of this post. This will also be redacted, so anyone bounty hunting in our system will no longer need to worry about letting certain wanted ships go. Fire away.
EXO grew to staggering numbers very quickly, and it wasn't regulated in any way. We have had an open-door policy for all Commanders, as Wolf 1301 should be a safe haven for any (sensible) Commander who wants to enter. We have Flights in place to target our enemy when their presence is made aware, and other Flights have been created to help other Commanders find their place within our ranks, as well as to help with specialized MOs.
Yesterday, we began to filter the ranks on Inara in order to remove some of the inactive members. However, many turned out to be quite active in-game, just not on the site. The communication on this was poor, and I will take full responsibility for it. You guys deserve better than that, and I sincerely apologize.
I'm aware that some bridges are burned and cannot be fixed. Again, I apologize to those of you that this relates to, and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. But for those of you who are willing, you are always welcome at Wolf and among our ranks.
I also believe that we have been taking the EXO thing way too seriously. /r/EliteOne is a massive community filled with many different people with different play-styles, much like the PowerPlay factions you see in-game. Not everyone is trying to expand the Power, not everyone is attacking the enemies.
We have had a strong focus on expanding the faction since EXO was placed in the game. But with player factions being bugged and it proving difficult to expand, this will no longer be our primary MO, and honestly I think we went about it all wrong from the start. From now on, the primary MO will be to have fun. Do what makes you happy, with the people that make you enjoy playing with. There will still be many of us who will focus on expanding EXO, you are welcome to help us with that.
To those of you who oppose us, thank you. Thank you for your feedback, constructive or not. You see our flaws better than anyone, and it helps me and the other leaders of this faction to make it better. We will continue to grow as an in-game community, as well as continue to learn from the mistakes we make along the way.
EXO isn't perfect, we never considered it to be. Please continue to point out when we do something wrong, I only ask that you remain civil and constructive about it.
Please remember that the actions of one do not necessarily reflect the actions of many. If any of you have personal issues with a member of EXO or something the faction has done, don't hesitate to contact myself, Ben, or Ret about the matter.
Sincerely,
DrunkRenegade12
EXO Wing Commander